Marketing and Business for Artists and Arts Organizations

Creatives and Business is all about helping you build a successful art business, arts or cultural organization or other creative business. I have put together some great resources on this site to help you sell more art, improve membership and attendance, and better manage the business side of things. I invite you to check it out and share with your creative friends. Best of Luck! – Neil McKenzie

While you probably don’t need to carve your mission statement in gold, it’s a good idea to write it down and post it someplace where you will be reminded of why your art business exists

One thing most successful businesses have in common is that have a mission that defines why they exist, what they hope to accomplish and how they interact with the world around them. For many companies this mission is distilled down into a statement or series of statements that describes their mission. Many companies have a formal mission statement which they use to guide their overall actions. For other companies their mission statement may be informal and for far too many companies they don’t have a mission statement at all – probably not a great choice!

Creating a mission statement for your art or creative business is one of the most important and perhaps most difficult tasks in developing your business plan. In a sentence or two you describe why your business exists, what you sell and to whom, and should include a bit of your “secret sauce.” In short, your mission statement is what gets you up in the morning! Your mission statement should guide your strategies and everyday actions so that you can achieve your art business goals. Continue reading →

Money is the life blood of any business. When there isn’t enough you may need to look at additional sources to grow your art business

Every business needs money to operate and grow and your art business is no exception. It is important that you have a basic understanding of the various ways to finance a business that are available. Most artists start(finance) their businesses with their own or borrowed funds and use the money generated from sales to fund future activities. For some artists these funds are not sufficient to fund their growth plans or other obligations and they need to raise money.

In this article I will explore the common ways to finance a business. You don’t need to go to business school to understand the basics of business financing. Learn the basics and you are well on your way to keeping your art business viable and growing! In a future article I will take a look at other financing methods such as grants, fiscal sponsorship and crowdfunding.

This is the third article in a Series on Market Research and Data Mining for Arts and Cultural Organizations. The marketing manager for the local Arts Center is interested in finding out more about the usage habits of its members and visitors and more specifically she is looking to increase participation in the Center’s Special Exhibits. In this article we will explore some tips on designing surveys and preparing the survey for analysis and data mining.